Haiti text donations to Red Cross pass $5M

By Laura Ascione

January 15th, 2010

U.S. cell phone users have contributed more than $5 million in $10 increments to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief, by far the largest outpouring of support via mobile devices in history, reports the Associated Press. The response to the devastating earthquake produced the highest amount of mobile donations “that we have ever seen,” said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of mGive Foundation, the nonprofit group that is working with the Red Cross and wireless carriers to channel the donations. To donate to the Red Cross, mobile users are texting the word “Haiti” to the number 90999. Snyder said the money is coming in at a rate of roughly $200,000 an hour. As of Thursday afternoon, people had donated $5.1 million. “We could be handling more,” she said. “We are not at capacity.” Red Cross spokesman Roger Lowe called the outpouring of $10 donations by hundreds of thousands of mobile users “nothing short of awe-inspiring.” But he said the largest donations the organization is getting is still coming in online…

Laura Ascione

Laura Ascione is the Managing Editor, Content Services at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland's prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
When she isn't wrangling her two children, Laura enjoys running, photography, home improvement, and rooting for the Terps.
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